2534 Birds. 



village. It is one of the latest of our summer visitors, seldom arriving 

 before the end of May. 



Nightingale (Philomela liiscinia). The nightingale is very plenti- 

 ful in this neighbourhood, and sometimes remains here unusually late 

 in the autumn. On the JOth of November, 1836, a cat brought in a 

 female of this species, which she had killed but a few minutes before. 



Garden Warbler (Curruca hortensis). Towards the latter part of 

 the autumn this bird frequents our kitchen gardens in great abundance. 

 In common with other gardeners, we formerly supposed that white- 

 throats, and indeed all the species of the genus Curruca, were very 

 destructive to late crops of peas. The injustice of this accusation was 

 a few years ago pointed out to us by a person in the village, who had 

 had the good sense to investigate the matter by opening two or three of 

 these birds, which he had shot in the act, as he thought, of robbing 

 his peas : in no case did the stomach contain any particle of a pea ; 

 on the contrary, each one was filled with blights and other small in- 

 sects. On hearing this we determined to discover who were the real 

 depredators ; and on examining a crop of peas found among them, as 

 usual, plenty of whitethroats, but no other birds : this certainly looked 

 very suspicious, but, having withdrawn a little way, we waited to watch 

 their proceedings: no sooner were we fairly out of sight than a host 

 of greenfinches, sparrows and tomtits, came down from the neighbour- 

 ing trees, and at once recommenced their attack on the tender pods. 

 We killed and opened several on the spot, whose crops contained evi- 

 dence sufficient to convict the whole race. It is almost unnecessary 

 to add, that since that time the warblers have enjoyed themselves in 

 unmolested security upon our premises. 



Wood Warbler (Sylvia sibillatrix). We have only once met with 

 this beautiful bird in our own neighbourhood. A few specimens have 

 been killed near Oxford, but it is far from common in this part of the 

 kingdom. 



Cuckoo (Cucalus canorus). On the 23rd and 24th of September, 

 1848, a cuckoo was heard singing in the early part of the morning, — 

 a very unusual occurrence at that season of the year. Young birds 

 of this species will occasionally remain here as late as the end of Oc- 

 tober, but we have never succeeded in keeping them through the 

 winter. 



Swallow (Hirundo rustica) and Martin (Hirundo urbica). The 

 following extraordinary appearances of these birds have come under 

 our observation. On the 28th of February, 1846, one swallow was 

 seen near this village, and three more on the following day. The 



